I don't think so

My neighbors across the street continually think of new and exciting ways to be extremely annoying.  One of their most successful methods is via their cat.  Don't get me wrong, I like cats...even have a couple.  But if you leave your garage door up, it's in your garage.  If you leave your car windows/top down, it's in your car.  Another neighbor finally got pissed off to the point of calling animal control.  Mind you, this is after he had several fruitless conversations with them.

When he called animal control, the city police dispatcher answered.  The dispatcher said that animal control doesn't receive enough calls to warrant its own dispatcher, so she pulls double-duty.  She says she'll send an officer out.

Ten minutes later, an officer shows up.  A real one in a real uniform with a real squad car and a real Glock 22.  He absolutely did not look like the Crocodile Hunter, which is what we would have expected.  The officer explained to the cat's owners that an animal off leash unattended is a $250 fine if they get called again.  Needless to say, tensions in the hood are a bit higher than normal.

But here's the good part.  The cats owners have come up with a solution to their wandering feline problem:  underground fencing.  I shit you not, they had it installed yesterday.  A ton of it.

I did some research.  Most opinions on the internet fall along the lines that cats brains aren't wired (no pun intended) to understand underground fencing.  There were contrary opinions, but these belonged almost exclusively to underground fence installers.  Not exactly an unbiased lot.

So what do you think?  Will my doofus neighbors be successful in training their cat to stay in the yard, or is Snowball going to be electrocuted?